LORDS OF THE FALLEN

World-hopping glow-up

- Harvey Randall

A lot of studios have tried to jury-rig their own-brand Dark Souls. I'm happy to report that, after four hours with Lords of the Fallen's 2023 reboot, Hexworks' new take doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, its devs are building a custom ride using a tried-and-true frame, with a big hunk of weird Umbral nitrous strapped to its engine.

Lords of the Fallen has a troubled past. Its namesake, a 2014 attempt at the Souls-like genre, was viewed by some gamers to be a hollow imitation of the real thing the first outsider to take a stab at cashing in on the surprise successes of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls.

The ghosts of double-A jank and accusations of being a rip-off have loomed over its release, and I imagine my response to news of a remake was the same as many others. "Huh, really? Lords of the Fallen? OK, but why not start afresh with a new IP?" But the folks at Cl Games and Hexworks know their history, and after spending some time with Lords of the Fallen, I think they're far from doomed to repeat it.

"[Lords of the Fallen 2014's] world was very linear, very horizontal, you had no underlying features, you had no accessibility, so you were just dropped in it, period," explains Colin Gilzean, global product manager at CI Games, during my pre-preview briefing, before promising the remake was a step into a modernised era.

I wasn't surprised by this self-awareness - it'd be strange if they didn't  talk about it. What blindsided me during my playthrough was just how much they clearly meant it. When I hear phrases like "two lives, two worlds", the cynical goblin in my brain wakes up, ready to cry gimmick. But I'll be damned - I think they've gone ahead and pulled it off.